BWND Blog

I thought some might like this picture of a sea breeze front somewhere near Lyme Regis today.  It was giving strong lift to about 5000ft with 6 knots in places.   Mike Thorne

We will be hosting a  BBQ at the club next Saturday. To meet current regulations you (currently) need to bring (& cook) your own food & bring your own cutlery, crockery & drinks (although that aspect may change). There will be no costs levied. The club will supply the BBQ & cooking utensils. If the weather is inclement then the western end of the hangar will be cleared for tables & seating. Hope to see you there.

On a day that I was tempted to scrub, the few of us that flew had a great day, none better than Matt Oakes who I had the privelidge to send off on his first solo, well done that man! Tim Fletcher & Jim Hasker renewed their instructor ratings & last but by no mean’s least Gavin & Julian flew the spare Puch for nigh on two hours. Roll on next week

Good evening fellow aviators.

We were treated to two terrific mid-week flying days this week 🙂.

Both days were filled with glorious sunshine, with a wind-chill that cooled things considerably on occasion. The upper wind drifted from 040 – 080 degrees over the two days, and between 5 – 10kts. The cool air mass and warming spring sun generated some very good soaring opportunities for the time of year. Lots of extended local soaring flights were enjoyed on both days, and John G clocked up the Clubs first Cross Country of the year on Thursday with a very respectable 205k ‘out and return’ to Ledbury 🙂 👍🏻.

Mike J, Phil G, and Andy F were busy instructing. While John H and Phil R were busy flying the Tug. 🙂 👍🏻.

A very pleasant couple of days flying from the Park dear aviators 😎.

I took a few pictures from the two days to share with you all, hope you enjoy them.

Kind regards.

Damien.

 

We have returned to the skies once more dear aviators! .

It was a cool crisp Spring day at the Park today, but it did warm up pleasantly from around mid-day onwards. The upper wind was approx. 040 degrees at a brisk 19kts. The cool North Easterly air mass and warm April sun treated us to some much appreciated soaring. It wasn’t Cross Country weather at the Park today, but all attending Pilots did enjoy extended local soaring opportunities.

It was an absolute delight to be back in the air again following lockdown 😎.

A total of 20 Glider flights and 4 Touring Motor Glider flights today.

I took a few pictures from the day to share with you all, hope you enjoy them.

Kind regards.

Damien.

Tuesday 23rd March dawned drab and unappealing to fly but there was hope, there’s always hope when Mike Jenks is on site! A brisk and distinctly chilly wind was blowing from the south so the ridge should be working and a raft of Instructors were keen to give it a try. As it turned out Steve Lambourne ran up & down the ridge for 1 hour and 40 minutes at varying heights in his PIK 20 while other lowly pilots in the club Puch’s managed to scrape a few runs in very reduced sink and occasional lift. In the end we did 15 launches with Stuart North and Phil Rees regaining currency in the tug and I airtested FUY and flew the Venture, joining Mike Jenks in an all too brief thermal (he’s below me in the picture), before opening the throttle to climb through a large gap in the clouds for a bit of fun and photo opportunity at 3500ft.

Thanks to Mike and Graham Hoile for driving the winch and to Lesley and Julie for doing the log keeping. As it turned out, the sky cleared eventually so all in all it was a great day. We look forward to the 29th Mar when more solo flying can resume before dual flying gets back underway in mid-April.

Thanks to a concession issued by the Department for Transport last week, the first batch of club instructors were able to fly today with the second batch booked in for tomorrow.

A grand day was had under clear blue skies that was blessed with light winds and occasional Cu that produced some weak thermals. Alastair McGregor carried out the maiden flight in his spanking new Ventus 3 staying airborne for well over an hour.

We did 20 launches of which two were by the Venture and five aerotows. Thanks to Mike Jenks for organising the return to flight and we look forward to resuming normal flights for all later next month, meanwhile after tomorrow we return to lockdown.

Brand new SPL arrived by post today. I sent the application in over the New Year, really easy to do and all by email. Thanks to Lizzie in BGA office for making life easy. Next step adding my FRTOL to it.

Good evening fellow aviators.

It was a very pleasant days flying from the Park today 🙂.

It was a crisp winters day, the upper wind was approx. WSW at a gentle 5kts. There were no soaring opportunities due to the stable air mass, as is to be expected this time of year.

Only a small band of hardy Pilots at the Park today but the enthusiasm to fly continued all day, with launching only pausing briefly for cable retrieves.

Mike J had a productive day instructing, and the maintenance team continued to make excellent progress with their winter maintenance programme 🙂 👍🏻.

For most Pilots, today was an opportunity to get some Launch and Circuit practice in. But John H, inspired by this being our last flying day of the year, decided to treat us all to some aerobatics. I was lucky enough to be invited to take the rear seat of the Puch for a ringside view of Johns aerobatic masterclass 🙂.

A total of 17 Glider flights and 4 Touring Motor Glider flights today. Another very pleasant days flying from the Park dear aviators 😎.

I took a few pictures from the day to share with you all, hope you enjoy them.

Kind regards.

Damien.

Although not many members will have met him, most will know of Pete Stratten, the BGA Chief Exec. Today it was announced that Pete has been awarded an MBE for his work in aviation. I have known Pete & worked with him since my early days in gliding &, I believe, was one of his instructors at Cranwell when he was a lad. I can think of fewer rank & file people more deserving of this award, congratulations Pete.

Reading that Bournemouth Class D airspace was downgraded to Class G for today, plus the forecast of a sunny day was just too much of a rare opportunity. So Sue and I flew over the Bournemouth region without ATC guidance. Also to fly in the zone we needed to set a listening squawk, which we can now do in the Venture.

It was the first time I have been able to fly over my house as well. No, not the one below, that’s Kingston Lacy.

Below is Wimborne from the West.

And this one is obvious.

 

An impression of the glorious weather experienced by an intrepid gathering of keen aviators at the Park today. The ridge produced little bumps for extended circuits, but the lenticular cloudlets turned out to be lentils from a different stew and didn’t work. All in all it turned out to be a pleasant day.

A lovely day’s flying. 33 flights today, with Steve Lambourne achieving the longest flight of 18 minutes in LPM. Sitting in the front seat of GAM doing instructor training we had a thermal climb of over a knot up to 1800ft, (thank you Dan) and a winch launch to 2100ft, (thank you Graham) which is the best ever I have seen at The Park. And the wind was only 20kts.

All very pleasant for the time of year.

Alastair

A great day back in the air for those who could spare the time. 17 launches, the longest (unpowered) flight being by Keith Longdon when the wind went round to the south and the ridge started working, Chrissy managed 13 minutes. Thanks to Stu North for providing instruction in GAM.

The Venture was back in the air following it’s annual servicing and fitting of some new avionics, thanks to all those who did the work including Graham Hoile, Ian Wright & Mike Thorne (apologies to those I’ve missed out).

The maintainers were busy in the hangar with FUY now de-rigged for it’s annual inspection – more workshop news being written by yours truly for the Christmas edition of GlideAngle.

Good evening fellow aviators.

Well we certainly made the most of the final days flying before lockdown 🙂 👍🏻.

It was a cool autumn day at the Park today, with crystal blue skies and glorious sunshine. The upper wind was approx. NNE at a gentle 5kts. The soaring opportunities were modest, as is to be expected this time of year.

The enthusiasm to fly continued all day, with launching only pausing briefly for cable retrieves, and tow plane refueling. It was a real pleasure to see so many pilots at the Park making the most of the days flying.

Mike J, John H, and Adam B, had a productive day instructing. With John and Adam covering tow plane duties as well 🙂 👍🏻.

A bustling airfield, crystal blue skies, and glorious sunshine. A very pleasant days flying from the Park.

I took a few pictures today to share with you all. Hope you enjoy the them.

Kind regards.

Damien.

As today was the last days flying for a few weeks, I took the opportunity to enjoy two 8000ft aerotows to celebrate what has been another great seasons soaring from the Park. Both flights were a real treat, a super smooth and relaxing experience thanks to the stable air mass, and stunning views thanks to the days excellent visibility. I managed to contact some light wave on my second flight of the day that kept me happily bobbing about at approx 4000ft above the Park for a little while, extending my flight by a few much appreciated minutes. I was also treated to some wonderful “brocken spectres” during this flight when I was turning at the West end of the Wave Bars before tracking back along them. No pictures of the brocken spectre unfortunately, as the wave was very light and patchy so required full concentration to make use of it. I did take a few pictures while in the Glide to share with you all though.

Good evening fellow aviators.

A cool autumn day at the Park today, with crystal blue skies and glorious sunshine. The upper wind was approx. 20 – 30kts at 060 degrees.

The soaring opportunities were modest, as is to be expected this time of year. But there was some thermal activity and streeting around the Park for the Pilots to enjoy. Greg C managed the longest flight of the day at 49 minutes. Well done Greg  .

The enthusiasm to fly continued all day, with launching only pausing briefly for cable retrieves.

Mike J and John H had a productive day instructing, and Alastair M was on hand to Pilot the Tug for the days aerotows.

Seasonally cool at the Park today, but still a very pleasant and sunshine filled days flying 🙂.

I took a few pictures from the day to share with you all. Hope you enjoy them.

Kind regards.

Damien.

It’s been eight months since last instructing, so it was good to be back in GAM today, flying with Harriet and Dan on BI training.

Windy, 20kts NW, but winch launches to 1900ft and thermals for a short period around midday with really quite good climbs. The wave looked enticing early on, but the air was all a bit too unstable for it to be a realistic prospect.

Very few members in attendance though. Don’t be afraid to book a single seater, even if you are only expecting to do a circuit. The new booking schedule will allow four bookings per day. It’s still soarable.

John H. was first up to stress FUY and de-stress himself with an aerobatic air test.  Duly passed,  it was returned to the hangar for John to finish off a few extras before getting it back into service.  Many thanks for all the work, John.

The RASP wind was pretty accurate, 270/10~15 kts, which gave the K21 a first launch of 1600′, above the broken cloudbase.  I was flying it with Mervyn B. and on his second he got us to 1800′, or rather Alec driving the winch did, with light cloud still around 1600′.  Andy took over winching in the afternoon, having already mowed the grass.  Many thanks to both of them for good high launches all day.

Adam took over the K21 to fly Mark S., our latest full member, following his trial flight and subsequent training on his “30 day ticket”.  Keep up the good progress Mark!

Chrissy had the longest flight, thermalling to around 2100′ cloudbase in the early afternoon.  At times, the cloud built up and threatened rain but it didn’t happen ( until I was well on my way home), so we had another useful autumn weekday of flying.

Many thanks to all for helping, even if not themselvs flying,  Phil G.